


Arcane Magic

by GingerLotus



Series: Inseparable from Knowledge [4]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Multi, Past Character Death, Pre-Calamity Ganon, Smut, Temporary Character Death, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:15:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24799036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GingerLotus/pseuds/GingerLotus
Summary: A little pre-calamity story that may then be backed by a number of vignettes throughout the I Can Be Your Hyrule story.Basically a place for me to dump prose and scenes that were cut from the main story for a number of reasons. And to play and add new things as they come to me.
Relationships: Ganondorf/Link (Legend of Zelda), Ganondorf/Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Ganondorf/Nabooru (Legend of Zelda), Ganondorf/Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Series: Inseparable from Knowledge [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1625872
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. Magician

“Don’t stop, don’t you dare _fucking_ stop.” Soft, strong flesh pushed back against his groin with so much force he almost missed his mark. Holding onto her hips wasn’t just part of the pleasure, it was a necessary anchor.

He grabbed a fistful of her fiery red locks and hauled her back up against his chest. She let out a strangled cry and arched her back, her pert breasts jutting out and begging to be touched. Unfortunately his hands were already preoccupied.

“When have I _ever_ stopped?” he growled against her ear, his other hand moving off of her hip to stroke her with every powerful thrust. It was good to drag his mind away from the building pressure, to focus on her in order to keep from succumbing to blissful conclusion. She'd never let him hear the end of it if he spilled too soon.

She clutched the back of his neck for leverage and lifted her face for a kiss. Messy, hot, demanding, fierce.

It would hurt tomorrow, the amount of force he needed to keep her upright while driving into her. He could tell by the louder moans that he was reaching her exactly where she needed him, and that alone was motivation enough to hold on just a little longer. 

“Come for me,” he demanded.

“Come,” he repeated, just as she started to shake. 

“Come,” he gasped, her nails digging into his neck as he pounded into her. 

“Oh, _fuck_ , mawet-!” Her orgasm pushed him out of her and she fell forward, face buried in a cushion as she screamed and convulsed, his fingers still on her, his chest against her back and other hand planted next to her head, not daring to stop until she whimpered and her hips slowly dropped, knees splaying wide. 

She rolled over with a happy sigh, pulling him between her legs and guiding him back into her. He moaned in desperation, her honeycomb soaked and still fluttering in the aftermath. “Come inside this time, yeah?” she whispered. 

“Yeah?” he asked, just once. It had been a long time since she asked, and to say he was eager to fulfill her wish was an understatement.

“Give me a baby, Ganondorf.” She met his thrusts with smaller ones of her own, willing him deeper, promising he could pour into the mouth of her womb. He grunted against her shoulder, her legs holding him close as electric heat jolting down his spine and emptied into her gratefully. 

She sighed and gasped, murmuring “So much, I can _feel_ you, mawet. Yes, ohhhh!”

Her words and the tightening of heaven’s gates caused him to pulse and kick inside her, and he pushed still deeper as if an imaginary set of hands were urging him forward with each spasm. 

He let his weight settle onto her, being careful not to crush her, though she had insisted many times before that he wouldn’t. She played with his hair and kissed his nose. “ _I love you_ , _stay,”_ she said as he started to withdraw. Her hands and thighs held him close to her.

He stopped and looked up at her in admiration. “What is it, Nabooru?” he nuzzled against her neck. 

She didn’t answer, just combed her fingers through his wild hair and hummed a sacred song used to aid conception. He placed his cheek on her bosom and hugged her tight, joining her after a moment, and slowly drifted off, lost in their melody.

She nudged him awake before the sun, and they prepared for the day in silence. It was the comfortable kind of silence only two bound souls could hear without saying anything at all; their hearts speaking to each other of all of their hopes and fears. 

Hope that this time, the seed would take root. Hope that their child would be born as a prince or princess of The War to End All Wars. Hope that they would survive as a people, as a tribe, as a family. And fear that if all did not go right today then it would all be lost.

When people say “what do you have to lose?” they hardly expect the answer to be “everything,” because it is hardly ever true. But they were taking a risk today that could mean a great deal of loss. It could also bring the Gerudo out of the Great Desert and back into the land of lush green. Ganondorf himself had never known the Great Desert to be anything but harsh and inhospitable, but his mentors knew. The tapestries told a different tale as well. And the fact that the oases had dried up in his short lifetime....well, it was time they took back what Hyrule had so ruthlessly taken from them. 

Their team had been planting bugs on the spider drones that patrolled the edges of the desert for months. Ternasun was fucking brilliant and had somehow configured the bugs to hop like fleas from drone to drone, spreading the hacking software far and wide, reaching so far as Hyrule Castle. 

Reports had come in yesterday that the Castle had been breached and that the king and his guard were dead. Though no one knew where the princess was, the city was in chaos. If they were to advance, now would be the time. 

“I hope your night was as fortuitous as mine,” came a voice from the shadows. 

“Perhaps more, if we’re lucky.” Gan couldn’t help but smirk. 

Hamjil laughed and patted him on the back. “Well good luck to you. A child of Nabs and Gan would surely bring the world to its knees.”

"Hush, it's too early to talk like that." Ganondorf said, embracing his companion as they headed out into the sands.

Ganondorf inspected the four beast rovers with the crew. Each would be piloted by a mechanic and a gunner, and each would have a hacker on board running through code and take over the spider drones in their vicinity. The plan was to surround Hyrule Castle and descend upon it in a blaze of glory, turning the rest of the drones on each other as Gan and his Seven infiltrated the castle, taking them all prisoner and executing anyone foolish enough to make a stand. 

Each of the Seven were saying their last goodbyes to their families, Gan and Nabs watched them all. Nabs, who was generally uninterested in public displays of affection leaned against him and let herself be held and kissed. She even flirted back a little and made some suggestive comments about what she would do to him once they infiltrated the castle. 

“I think I’ll take you in the throne room first,” she mused. “Let you taste honey from the seat of royalty, hmmmm, then ride you until you scream my name.”

He laughed. “My queen is already talking of unseating me and I haven’t even taken the throne yet. Or rather, of seating herself _upon_ me while she _takes my throne.”_

It was her turn to laugh and punch him affectionately. Nevermind that it still smarted. 

“ _We_ take the throne _together_ ,” she reminded him. “It’s not my fault those stupid Hylians only have one golden seat. Why don’t you take the smaller and I’ll take the larger?”

“It will be tough enough to sit in their scrawny king’s chair; I highly doubt I can fit in the queen’s,” he laughed. 

“Exactly, so perhaps your first order of business as king should be to _serve_ your queen?” She smiled brightly. 

“Why wait?” he said, snaking his hand beneath the belt of her pants. The crowd, now watching, cheered as he pulled her up into his lap. She laughed and kissed him full on the mouth, letting him mouth her breasts before she yanked his face to hers by his hair. She looked down at him with all the strength and power that had enamored him to her in the beginning, feeding him and the fire in his bones. He didn’t doubt for a moment that she would be the most fierce queen the world had ever known. “Kiss me like it’s the last time, mawet.”

And he kissed her as passionately as he ever did, pouring his love and admiration down her throat to fortify her for the battle ahead.

Something had happened to the code. They had lost all control. No one was controlling the drones anymore, they were killing _anything that moved._

In the chaos the beast rovers split up, doing their best to draw the rogue drones away from Castle Town, which was being decimated. The Seven were fighting a losing battle and soon it was clear they should retreat. 

They pushed northwest, away from their home, to the Hebra Mountains where they could regroup and try to debug the corrupted code. If it wasn’t too late already. The Eagle followed overhead, circling and attacking the line of infinite tireless drones. 

“Elephant, report.” Nabooru said over the intercom. Ganondorf couldn’t focus on the answer, he was too busy watching a sickeningly pink glowing miasma seep from the earth. 

“Fuck!” Nabooru swore, “Elephant says something is coming.”

“What?” Ganondorf asked, not looking away from the miasma. And that earsplitting noise- what was that?

“They didn’t say, they’re not answering- it’s just static.” her voice cracked with fear. Nabooru was the bravest soul he had ever known; she did not know fear. 

Her uncertainty now made him wonder if he should. 

He didn’t have to wonder long. The sky turned black and rained enormous hailstones, wind so loud and strong that the Camel swayed. The high pitched screaming seemed to become louder as the storm picked up. 

“Just a little further,” Bini called, “I’m going to bring her down behind the Pantheon.”

Gan squinted and looked into the storm, trying to ascertain its source. It was an energy Gan had never felt before. Kilame looked at him in pure terror. “What unholy magic is this?” she whispered from his side. Gan shook his head and tried to tap into it. 

Darkness, the blackest pitch coated his soul and dragged him through the earth. A wicked laugh and an inhuman hiss- but not like the stalfos or any other creature he had ever known. In the darkness he could make out a vantablack figure that shifted shapes so rapidly he couldn’t focus. A spider. A snake. A horned devil with cloven feet. Something mechanical dripped putrefaction as a face emerged, magenta eyes glinted as an evil smile opening up a black hole as it laughed.

_Thank you for raising the blood moon, Demon King. Pray to your new god so that you may be spared._

And he blacked out.

Nabooru was screaming at him from somewhere far away. For the first time he knew real fear as he fought to open his eyes. The world spun. He was wet. Why was he wet? When did he get outside?

“I can’t carry you, we have to _go_. Get up, mawet!” she was sobbing and clutching his chest, trying to drag him to standing. 

He leaned over and wretched. Someone else was speaking and draped his armover their shoulders together they hoisted his large frame up and started to move him before he could command his feet to do it. 

He summoned the beasts and creatures but they were cowering, hidden away and too frightened to hear his call. He could feel death and decay sucking the life out of the land, and he knew at once that it hadn’t been a dream. 

He took a heavy step forward, and another, until he felt balanced enough to let go of Dorutoo and Nabooru. 

“Don’t look back, My King, Kilame and Homroje are still fighting.”

His mind reeled. Where were his other three? Temasun? Bini? Hamjil?

They stumbled into the temple moments later, lungs burning and legs on fire. Nabooru collapsed. 

Ganondorf picked her up and carried her into the temple, setting her on the altar as he noticed the gaping wound in her side. He forced himself not to wretch or look away as blood pooled around her and dripped down the altar. 

“How bad is it?” she asked. Dorutoo swore and tore at her hair. 

Gan searched for the corked fairy but it was missing. “Where is it?” The search became desperate. “ **Where the fuck is it**?” 

“She already used it,” Homroje said. Gan couldn’t even feel the relief at this news. The fact that a fairy hadn’t stitched her up completely meant that she was in worse shape than he feared. The sound of glass sliding across a stone floor echoed in the hall and made a thud as it hit his boot. 

Gratefully he took the elixir and emptied its contents directly to the wound that was deep enough he could see her intestines. It stitched crude flesh into place. The animalistic cry that came from her broke his heart in quarters. 

Gan swallowed hard. He scooped her up and placed her on the floor so she could sit up, attempting to stop her from drowning on her own blood. His trembling hand grasped for hers as he searched her soul for the depth of the damage. The intestine no longer screamed the loudest, though the blood in her lungs pooled at an alarming pace. She coughed up blood onto his black pants. 

He heard a body slump to the floor and he looked over to see Homroje and Dorutoo embracing. 

“Report,” his voice was raw. He wished he had healing magic. 

Homroje responded, voice shaky from crying. “Bini was flung from the Camel, died on impact. Temasun and Hamjil perished protecting their king and queen.” 

“KIlame?” Where was his healer? He listened for any changed in Nab’s breathing. It wasn’t worse, but the healing elixir and fairy were working too slowly to save her. 

Homroje shook her head and wailed. Dorutoo rocked her back and forth. “We lost sight of her after Camel was flung to the ground. I’m sorry my King but- we...we think she was swallowed by the darkness.”

He pulled the emergency elixir from him belt, and held it to Nabooru’s lips. She swore at him and turned away, wincing. “No, don’t you dare, don’t you _fucking_ dare,” she spat, wheezing. 

“You will die without a healer,” Ganondorf felt sick. Everything was about to be ripped from him and for what? “Take it,” his voice broke and with it the dam that held back his tears. “Please.”

She shook her head and whimpered at the strain of it. “No. You live, mawet. _You_ live.”

“Not without you,” he choked. 

She smiled at him and brought a hand up to his cheek. “My beautiful, stupid king. I love you more than life itself, and I’m _already dead_.”

As soon as she said it, he knew in his heart it was true. And he hated himself for it. Even if he did give her his own elixir, the internal damage was so deep there was only a 15% chance it would be enough to keep her alive long enough for the fairy magic to finish its work. They had perhaps an hour before she bled out. 

"I love you more than life or any kingdom, mawet, stay. Stay with me," he begged, pushing the loose bloody strands of hair out of her face. Her hand feebly squeezed his and she smiled, opened her mouth to say something but coughed up blood onto him instead.

He could hear the earsplitting cries of the earth again. He looked up and his remaining vai were scrambling to their feet. They slipped behind the altar and gasped. “Stairs! There’s a crypt!” 

He didn’t need to be told twice. He scooped Nabooru up and followed them down the dark steps.


	2. High Priestess

They climbed downward forever. Ganondorf cast a glowing orb ahead of them to light the way and no one spoke. He listened to the labored breathing of his love in his arms. He felt numb and hopeless, but he was not ready to give up. 

He had lost all sense of time. How long had it been since they descended? Ten minutes? Twenty? An hour? 

_ Long enough that she is barely breathing at all, save for a few shallow gasps. Come on, Nabooru, don’t do this to me. _

Finally the stairs stopped and opened into- not really a crypt, but a room of holy relics. A sarcophagus stood in the center of the cavernous room, and along the arched walls lay broken and scattered statues of the old dieties, a dragon skull, a dusty and half of a large painted glass window with what looked like a boar headed god underneath a single yellow triangle. The rest of the glass had shattered at its base.

The room was old and unkempt and smelled of rotting wood and decay. As he surveyed the room he saw something move in the dark and his vai flanked him at the same time, drawing their battered wartorn weapons. 

“Who  _ are _ you? And how did you break the seal on the altar?” Came a small squeak from the shadows, somewhere behind the sarcophagus. 

It was not the white haired Shiekah standing before him with a short yet undeniably  _ sharp _ sword trained at his throat. No doubt if they had wanted him dead he would be. 

“Peace, we seek refuge from the oncoming darkness,” he began in his softest, most calming voice. “My companion here is mortally wounded, what ward do you speak of?” 

Gan held Nabooru closer to his body as he could feel the heat leave her. His heart tightened. He didn’t have time for this. “Stand down, she’s  _ dying _ .” 

“I asked who you are! What kind of dark magic have you brought here? Into a sacred temple?”

He sank to one knee, his eyes still trained on the Sheikah. His guards were poised and ready for them to make the first move, die trying, or for his word to strike. 

“Forgive me but I think we have bigger things to worry about. A darkness is falling over Hyrule and  _ my queen is dying _ .” 

“Queen? How dare-” 

“They’re Gerudo,” the Sheikah says. “Say the word and I’ll kill them.”

“Assassins?!” The young girl exclaimed as she moved out of the shadows. 

Gan’s brain couldn’t process, and instead turned his full attention to Nabooru, kneeling and holding her limp body upright. If they killed him for trying to get Nabs to empty the blood from her lungs then fine. He turned her to her side and rubbed her back, willing her to spit up the blood that was filling her punctured lung. She struggled to breathe. She was drowning and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

The others were arguing and he was whispering “No no no, Nabs, no, hold on, spit it out, I’ve got you, you can make it.” Her eyes fluttered open and she grasped his hand, opening her mouth as if trying to speak.

But she shuddered and her hand went limp along with the rest of her. Her eyes were still staring up at him in horror as she had drowned to death directly in front of him, no water in sight, the light leaving her eyes and her soul kissing his as it lifted from her body, whispering its devotion as it slipped into the ether.

Everyone went quiet. 

No.

Everyone was  _ still arguing _ .

No.

The noise was deafening. 

No.

Her body was silent and it opened a void within him. The world turned sideways.

The roaring filled his ears. The roar filled the room. The shrill cry of darkness- 

Was coming from him. 

The Sheikah had drawn back to protect the princess as he roared in fury and grief. 

The vai were still facing away, guarding him and Nabs- 

No, just him. Unless you counted the lifeless body in his arms. 

He screamed again as understanding rushed into him. 

The Sheikah were the personal protectors of the monarchy. That fucking child was the missing princess. 

She was a Zelda. 

She was a child of Hylia. 

“You- you have the gift?” he asked. He knew he must look fierce, that he was burning with fury and that his eyes must have turned red. “You can heal her.”

The young woman took a step back shook her head in horror, wringing her hands.

“Do it, fucking  _ heal _ her, or  _ I will destroy you _ .” He didn’t even recognize his own voice. It sounded like the dark thing. 

He felt like the dark thing. 

“I can’t- I-I-I’m sorry.”

His feet barely touched the ground as he moved, flinging the Sheikah to the side and dragging the girl to her feet, “You will try.” 

She shrieked as he threw her down next to Nabooru’s body. “I am a  _ healer _ not a  _ necromancer _ !” She tried to shrink away but he held her. The Sheikah had appeared behind him with their blade at his throat. He could feel it prick his skin and he welcomed the promise of death. 

Let him die, what did it matter now?

“Let her go or you die as well, Demon King.” The Sheikah breathed in his ear. 

“Fuck you and  _ fuck your gods _ . Do you not see that they have forsaken you? Hyrule is being  _ swallowed _ and you can’t  _ fucking pray it away _ and not even my death will change that..” He welcomed that darkness into him, feeding his rage and his pain.

His guards looked shocked but unsure of their next move. They knew how quickly Sheikah could move, but this one was faster than even they had trained. No wonder they were put in charge of the damn princess.

_ Don’t forsake our people _ .

_ They need you. _

_ She’s just a child. _

His eyes focused on her terrified tear stained face. It was true, she was maybe fifteen at best, and she was not responsible for the sins of her father, and not yet old enough to be responsible for Hyrule’s atrocities.

He took a deep breath and let her go. She sobbed and retreated, bumping into his guards who helped her to stand. 

“Don’t touch her!” The Sheikah warned, and Gan could feel the trickle of blood as the blade scraped his skin. 

What did any of this matter? He thought wildly as he choked on maniacal laughter. He could feel the ominous presence of that malicious god and it was circling the Pantheon. Somewhere high above them, the God of The End stalked outside of the temple like a cat waiting for its prey.

“Truce,” he said in almost a whisper, putting his hands up. His guard laid down their weapons slowly at his slight nod. The Sheikah removed the blade and in the next instant was gone. 

When he blinked, he saw them kneel next to the princess, who nodded and sobbed that she was alright.

“I never saw this coming,” he said. He turned to Zelda. “Do you feel that, young priestess of Hylia?”

The maiden looked up at him, lip trembling. “It’s not coming from you?” She said. 

He shook his head. “It’s going to level everything if we don’t do something.” 

“Then surely it’s following you?” she asked tremulously. 

“Perhaps, but look deeper. You are a smart child, I am told. What do you feel?”

He could see her mind work for it, stretch to it, and recognize the truth in his words. He recognized the look of abject horror.

He smiled wryly. How perfect that he would have to work with the princess he had just overthrown to stop the eradication of their peoples. That just on the verge of victory he’d lose everything. He cursed the gods in his heart. 

She straightened up and nodded once, bravely. “How much time do we have?” 

They had managed to communicate back to the Beast Rovers, and were relieved to find that the crews were alive. Battered, bruised, and badly shaken, but their casualties could be counted on one hand, thank fuck. The Elephant, unfortunately had come under some heavy water damage and was immovable, but they assured Ganondorf that the high energy laser was in working order and had at least one charge’s worth to take out “whatever that thing is.” The others echoed similar situations, and so Gan felt fairly confident in the way forward.

Zelda confirmed that her army had been decimated “thanks to the Gerudo infiltration,” but Gan hardly felt bad about that and refused to even fake an apology. He didn’t even feel confident that she would hold her end of the bargain, but it was still their best shot for surviving as a whole. 

They hypothesized that--whether god or devil--it was a manifestation of the earth to destroy everything in an attempt to rebirth the world in a new image of chaos. 

It wasn’t quite what Ganondorf and Nabooru had in mind when they set out to take over Hyrule. 

_ And now she’s dead _ . 

He would draw the blasphemy into an imprisonment rite and Zelda would seal it away for as long as could be managed. 

“Long enough to buy us time to come up with a strategy to remove it for good,” Zelda had said. She was young, but she was smart. 

Ganondorf volunteered to lure the beast into the holding circle that they had cast below the surface, and he hugged his last two warriors before setting out. They wept and begged him to let them go instead, but he knew that neither of them had the strength nor the power to hold a god in the depths of hell. 

And he had enough fury to hold it there for ten thousand years, if that’s what it took. 

He walked up the steps with deliberation, only partially acknowledging that the Pantheon was a wondrous sight, and that at any other time he might have even been in awe of it. He stepped out into the light and squinted. It was a misnomer, calling it light, as dark grey clouds hid the sky. Lightning flashed above him, and the red lasers of a thousand spider drones were all trained on him. They followed him but did not fire. 

He ignored the clanking and clatter of the semi-autonomous mechanical monstrosities he used to overthrow the tyrant of Hyrule just days ago. He slowly walked across the meadow, his feet feeling for the electrical current in the earth that would work as prison and tether. 

He set his jaw and rolled his shoulders back, then turned toward the East, where he could feel that sickening blackness loom over him. 

“Take your true form, Devil. And bow to  _ me,  _ The Demon King, Lord Ganondorf, King of Gerudo and Conqueror of Hyrule.”   
  


The putrid darkness began to shift again, much like before though more nightmarish, taking on not just form but also feeling. Every evil deed another human has ever brought upon another. Wars. Murder. Torture. Rape. A fairy forest burning to the ground after a campfire is left smoldering, unattended. A family of river Zora being captured and split up for selling to the highest bidder, the brother and sister sold to a brothel. The land drying up and dying. Refuse and mechanical fluids and pollution soaking the earth, poisoning it.The skies burning with fire, the air choked with stink and sulfur. Killing dragons, bringing them to the brink of extinction, among so many other guardian creatures of the gods and purity and life. 

Angry, furious, dying, desperate. 

One after another took form before him and within him, living and dying a thousand lives through a thousand eyes, seeping into the ground and cursing it until once again it transformed. Spider. Bear. War machine. Snake. Swarm. Boar.

Ganondorf summoned a barrier around his soul to keep out the infiltration, and focused on the task at hand. He cast a lightning rope around the middle of a massive tentacled slimy sea monster, pulling with such force that it nearly split in two. 

“I said your true face, servant of darkness.” he said as he dragged it forward, muscles straining as he pulled it in closer, hand over hand.. 

And then the image quivered, blanked out of existence, but when he pulled again with all his might, the shape of a woman slammed against him, the rope tied around her neck, eyes open wide with pain, fear, and unable to breathe. 

Nabooru. 

Except it wasn’t. She was already dead. 

Something inside him snapped and his rage shook the earth. He grabbed the Blasphemy by the throat and dragged it through the chasm that opened beneath his feet. 

“Fuck you,” he said as he and the spectre were impaled on something sharp. Even in death, he refused to let go. No matter how the thing screeched or fought against him, he cursed it with his last breath.  _ I won’t let go until we are both dead, you piece of shit. _

A taloned hand clawed at him, trying to get away, but he held fast, even as he could feel the blood and the light leave him. His fury would sustain him for an eternity. 

The last thing he remembered, there was a flash of brilliant light and then nothing.

Peaceful, brilliant, numb nothingness. A dark comfortable blanket that he could neither see nor feel, as he himself became nothing. And he embraced it like the truest lover.

  
  


The ground closed up beneath her feet and she collapsed, Screaming retching and wailing. 

The prophecy did  _ not _ mention that. Or the loss. Or what would happen  _ after _ she sealed Ganon away. The drones were dead. The combination of her light and the lightning wrath from the powerful Gerudo King had blown their power source. She hoped they would stay that way forever.

She wondered if the prophecy had somehow got it wrong. 

The monster wasn’t Ganon, that was the Gerudo King? 

But he saved them?

This didn’t make any sense.

Ganondorf, the dreaded terrible King of the Gerudo brought that horrifying destructive beast down on the world, only to be the one to sacrifice himself to seal it?

Ganon _dorf,_ not the monster, but the hero?

She still couldn’t see or hear, the white light had blinded her and stripped her of her senses. Everything was empty and numb except a high pitched silence. 

Impa and the two Gerudo carried her to the temple. She was too weak to walk on her own. And her mouth couldn’t shape words. 

She slipped back into unconsciousness. 

She awoke babbling. 

They fed her a thin broth. Chicken? Pork? It didn’t matter. It was the most delicious thing she had ever tasted. 

Except sleep. Perhaps sleep was the most delicious luxury of all. 

When she could finally hold her head up for longer than a few minutes, they headed back to Hyrule Castle. 

That’s when Impa told her they had met a Rito named Ruto after the battle, and he explained his profession as a traveling orator. He had sat listening to Zelda babble for three days, creating and weaving a tale from the pieces she could no longer remember now that she was stable and awake. 

But one thing she still couldn’t reconcile. 

The Great Evil Gerudo King had  _ sacrificed _ his own life to save the entirety of  _ Hyrule _ . 

“Impa,” she said, mustering all of her courage and resolve. 

“Yes, Your Majesty?” 

“When we return, please call the council, or what’s left of it. My first act as queen will be to pardon The Gerudo People.”

The two Gerudo companions had left with their mechanical beast not but hours ago. They would abandon the now defunct beasts where they stood as a testament to The Great War and the peace they now attempted to forge. The great camel would return to the desert after roaming the land, and gathering the Gerudo warriors to head back to their homeland. Zelda promised to open the trade routes immediately. 

“As you wish, Your Majesty.” She could tell that Impa was as confused by the last battle in ways neither of them ever would have believed. 

“And I’d like to begin learning their language.” She added. “If we’re to sew true peace between the nations, then I must humble myself, and build the first bridge.”

“Quite right, Your Majesty.” Impa said with a nod. Zelda couldn’t tell what emotions were hiding behind that mask. 

“We will fulfill his last wish.” she said. She could see the outline of the castle in the distance, and wondered what kind of destruction she would find there. “We owe him a great debt and I plan to pay it.”


	3. Empress

“If you want to spend the night with her it’s fine,” she said in a voice that indicated that it definitely was not fine. 

It was useless to try to deny that he and Paya had been intimate, even if Zelda was just being passive aggressive about it. In the end he decided to ignore her.

It was the wrong decision. 

She seethed over dinner but smiled and played diplomat as well as she ever did, reminiscing with their old friend and charming Paya into fast friendship.

When no one was looking, she glared daggers at Link. It was very discombobulating; the woman in front of him was so familiar and yet such a mystery. 

What exactly had they been before the rise of The Calamity, and why did looking at her make his stomach turn into knots like he hadn’t eaten for days? 

And why, if she insisted they were just friends, did she get so angry every time they came across someone she had seen him with? 

It still mortified him that she had seen _everything_ while she was trapped in that beast. She swore it wasn’t like that at all though, that the power of the goddess had opened her eyes to reluctant omniscience and because of their previous _bond,_ as she called it _,_ she couldn’t help from tuning into his wavelength, and sometimes at inopportune times.

Clearly, Paya had been one of those times. Link didn't know if she knew about _all_ of the times he had come back to Kakariko Village for a familiar friendly face, or how much of that time was spent with the Sheikah woman. He didn't want to know, and Zelda wasn't exactly forthcoming with just how much she knew. 

Enough. She knew enough already, that was clear.

When they left Impa's home for the night, Zelda walked quickly away from him. He remembered this march: the one where she was trying to lose him and wanted to be alone. He followed at a distance, trying to decide if he should follow or give her the space she was hinting at. 

He was good at reading people, but not so good about what to do with that information, it would seem. 

She wheeled on him. “Why are you following me?” she snapped. 

He stopped dead with a serious sense of deja vu. He raised his hands and shrugged his shoulders subtly. _I’m your guard? Do you want me to leave you alone? Do you want me to stay? Please just tell me what I'm supposed to do?_

“You’re jealous,” is what he said. It wasn’t supposed to be accusatory, and he shouldn’t have said it. 

Her mouth snapped shut and she turned away from him, stalking up the hill and right past the inn. Where was she going?

He jogged to catch up. 

“I am _not_ jealous.” 

“No, you’re _pissed,_ ” he said. Great. This must be why he was so quiet in his before memories. Why he had not recollection of long talks or what they might have discussed a hundred years ago.

She stomped passed the line of farmhouses at the edge of the village before putting her hands on her hips and looking around. She turned back around so swiftly she ran right into Link, who caught her against his chest to steady her. 

“Unhand me, I am no damsel in distress, I am capable of finding the inn on my own. Now, go stay with your beautiful companion and _leave me alone_.”

Ah, so she was lost. He may have been hopeless but at least he knew better than to leave her alone. He let her go but continued to follow her. She took a right up the hill toward Kakariko Forest. 

“Zelda-”

She shrieked at him and pushed him in the chest. “No. Do _not_ call me that. You said you remembered me but it’s clear you _do not_.” He stumbled harder than he should have, taken aback by her accusation. “Or you don’t _want_ to remember, or because you blame me for-" she gestured around herself as if _all of this_ was something she was responsible for "or because she is everything I can't be-" her voice sounded strange, high pitched and thin. "I don't need you." she cried.

That hit him like an arrow through his chest. Worse, it was like a lynel’s roar knocking him off of his feet though he was still standing. He caught her wrist on instinct, blocking the blow before he even registered that she had meant to hit him-

And then pulled her to his chest in a tight hug. The fight left her and she stood stock still, just letting him hold her. She smelled of sugarcane and warm safflina, and in an instant he recognized this smell as familiar in a way nothing else had. Home, the way Sidon smelled though entirely different, and with an ache and yearning that he couldn’t place. 

“I don’t remember everything,” he whispered as he dropped his face into her hair. “I’m sorry, I don’t.” 

She trembled against him and clung to his tunic. 

“When you smile at me, I remember picnics in Hyrule field and you ruffling my hair and calling me an idiot and your laugh.”

He took a deep breath. “Spring rain reminds me of a time we huddled under a blanket in Faron and shared baked apples, so warm it burned my tongue and you blew on it before giving me the next bite...and I think maybe we kissed, but I can’t _remember_ if that’s true or if I just want it to be,” he confessed. 

She looked up at him, tired and sad, but also curious and no longer angry. He studied her face for a minute, and could feel the pull of her heart behind her eyes, her aura feebly trying to hold his within it. 

He felt a yearning and couldn't tell if it was hers or his.

Before he could lose his nerve, he bent his face to hers. 

With a rush of vertigo he remembered that no, they did not share a kiss under the makeshift leanto in Faron, though she did feed a slice of hot apple to him, her fingers trembling as they lingered on his lips before she pulled away and pressed her hand to her own mouth, covering a shy smile as he blushed so hard he couldn’t even remember tasting the rest of the apple.

He remembered racing her to The Temple of the Seven Sages, where she tackled him off of his horse to stop him from winning, and she kissed him full on the mouth while he was too busy laughing to stop _her_. 

Hide and seek in corners of the garden just to sneak kisses and hold each other. 

A stern conversation with King Bosphoramus in which he was warned that “A gelding can still pull a cart.” His terror, and the heartbreak of trying to explain to the princess why he couldn’t meet her in secret anymore. 

Her obstinate anger and defiance at the order. 

His absolute inability to refuse her no matter how hard he tried.

Kisses behind a tapestry, in the library stacks, covered in mud while running outside of Fort Hateno. Innocent, playful, hot, desperate, longing, looking for a sense of teenage normalcy. And each of them precious and now unlocked from his memory. 

He was jarred from his memories by fat droplets of water hitting his shoulders. Zelda was kissing him back, one hand at the nape of his neck and the other still clutching his shirt. She let out a sob and he pulled her against him, “I remember,” he said softly kissing her cheeks, her eyelids, her lips. “I remember.” He kissed her neck. “I remember.”

He was jolted awake by the sound of thunder above and heavy rain battering the tent. Lightning illuminated Zelda's sleeping form beside him, as she snored softly. He pulled her closer to him like she was a specter. He still couldn’t believe she was here and that on top of everything else, she was _with him_. 

They were just above the canyon of The Forgotten Temple, and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous about what they would find deep underground tomorrow. 

“ _I just need to be sure, Link,_ ” she had insisted. _“There was no canyon before Calamity, don’t you remember?”_

He listened to the patter of rain and thunder and matched his breathing pattern to hers. He had learned that it was the easiest way to lull himself back to sleep, and soon he was drifting off into his memories again.

He kissed down her naked body and she spread her legs to make room for him as he pulled his shirt off. “Are you sure this is okay?” he asked, echoes of her father’s warning glaring down on him. 

“Haven’t I waited long enough?” she asked. 

It was fast. Too fast. He wanted to savor this and every moment he had with her, but she pleaded with an urgency that frightened him. Like she would slip away in the next moment if he closed his eyes for too long. 

“You’ve been with so many people since you’ve awakened and- I’m _free_ now and I want my life back,” she said, turning her face from him. “I want to know, Link.”

“It’s not a race, we can take it slow.”

“I can’t, Link.” She pulled his hand into hers. “There’s so much I need to experience yet and...and I want it to be with you.”

“I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere.”

She blushed and her voice shook. “Then I want you to show me-” she took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Show me what it feels like to know you the way they do.”

By ‘they’ she no doubt meant the lovers he had taken while she was was fighting Calamity. He felt guilty about it, finding moments of peace and bliss while she suffered. He felt like he owed her this, but at the same time, he wanted it.

He wanted it _so bad_. 

Sinking into her was heaven. Careful, slow pushes seated him as she gasped and clawed at him, and he moaned in agony and need, but he waited. 

“Keep going,” she whispered. 

“You okay?” He asked, hands trembling as they caressed her body. 

She nodded against his shoulder. He pushed deeper and she cried out. He stopped again. “More,” she sighed, tight, warm heat squeezing him as she adjusted to his gentle movements. 

“It feels so good,” she said, pushing her hips up to meet his. “I didn’t know it could feel so good!”

“Link!” she cried. 

“Link!” He woke up to Zelda’s heavy breathing and squirming against him. His eyes shot open. Oh no, not again.

“Sorry,” he tried to extract his hand from her pants but her thighs held him there. She moved against his hand and he felt heat against his cock. Fuck, he had pushed his pants down in his sleep and had pressed himself between her thighs, rutting against the thick flesh.

“Are you still sleeping?” she asked breathlessly. He shook his head. 

“Good,” she rolled away from him and he could hear her shuffle clothes around in the dark before she pushed him onto his back and groped for his hard cock. 

Fuck.

She sank down onto him and he groaned. He wasn’t even fully awake yet but he knew he must have teased her relentlessly in his sleep until she couldn’t bare it anymore. 

It had only ever happened with her as far as he knew. At least, no one else had complained of his sleep wandering hands. Not even Sidon. 

He was hobbled by his pants, tugged down just far enough for him to be fully exposed, but not enough to spread his legs for better footing. It didn’t matter, by the sounds she was making she’d be able to finish herself off with or without his help. He brought his thumb into play to at least aid her and she _yessed_ him, her hands pushing his shirt up and splaying across his chest as she fucked him hard. 

“Oh yes Link, more,” she said, as if he was doing anything but providing the tool for her pleasure. 

“Goddess,” he sang to the top of the tent. He realized the rain had stopped and the rumble of thunder was off in the distance. The part of his brain still functioning in the background noted that would be fortuitous as they made their way down into the canyon.

“Ohhhhh!” Zelda dug fingernails into his chest as she went rigid, and he gasped as she tightened and contracted around him almost painfully. 

A moment later she climbed from him and settled against his chest, stroking him to completion, her slick fluid coating him and making the slide of her hands feel incredible. It didn’t take much for his brain to overload and spill onto his stomach and chest as he heaved. 

He pulled a rag from his backpack and cleaned them both up before tossing it to the zippered door. He’d clean it with the rest of the tools and cooking implements in the morning.

She curled into his side and threw her arm over his ribs, not bothering to put her pants back on. 

“Sorry I woke you up,” he kissed her and she shrugged. 

“There are worse ways to awaken. Being the object of your lover’s desires-even if only in his dreams-is probably one of the most pleasant.” 

Neither of them wanted to talk about what could happen tomorrow, so instead they just lay together in silence and waited.

Link, for one, failed miserably to fall back asleep. He gently wriggled free and dug through the pile of clothing to find his boots at the bottom. He put them on then unzipped the tent slowly so Zelda wouldn’t wake up. He boiled dried bean seeds and water in the pot and watched the sunrise. 

He ran a hand through his tousled hair and set to sharpening the master sword, a habit he had picked up whenever he was on the road with Zelda and waiting for her to join him for breakfast. It was somehow cathartic.

The aroma of smoky spicy earth filled the air and roused Zelda from her sleep. She stumbled out of the tent with the sleeping bag wrapped around her. Link transferred the dark liquid to two cups, straining the beans from the water and handed one to her, which she took with a smile. Link added sugar and a generous pour of milk to his and Zelda added a splash to her own. 

She stuck her nose to the lip of the cup and breathed in the steam, humming softly before taking a loud slurp. 

Link couldn’t help but watch her with amusement. It never ceased to amaze him how different she was when they were traveling versus her cold perfect queen persona in Hyrule Castle. 

He often thought about the way she asked him if he remembered her. He had been completely unable to answer the question in full. He remembered her the way he remembered the sun on his face or a light rain in spring, the first flakes of snow on his skin or the shock of cold ocean water when you submerged yourself on a hot day. 

But remembering moments in time? Recalling a memory or a particularly funny joke that they had once shared- that was harder. Sometimes it was nearly impossible. They both had learned early on that his ability to recall was attached to his senses. Like smelling coffee in the morning while she hummed softly at the energized taste of it on her tongue. 

“I used to sneak you black coffee in the mornings, especially after you had sneaked into the brewery and learned about apple brandy.” Link said with a wistful smile. 

Zelda brought her cup down to her lap and watched him as he processed the memory. They often came jumbled and in pieces and he had to try to put them together in the right order. 

“Impa was furious with Purah,” Zelda giggled. “We drank ourselves silly and sang bawdy songs that she had learned from spending too much time in the barracks. We were only caught because I crashed into an entire rack of pots and pans while trying to pilfer cakes from the kitchen, for the summit the next morning."

Link laughed. “Mipha had never been drunk before.”

Zelda pursed her lips and held the cup to her face. “That was the night we learned what it truly meant to drink like a fish.” 

Link let out a loud laugh at that. “I made you a concoction to slip into your coffee in the morning, one we often used in the barracks.”

“That coffee was awful,” Zelda made a face. 

“Stamella mushroom, apple, honey and a pinch of electric chu jelly.” Link recalled. “Works like a charm.”

“CHU jelly?!” Zelda said in disbelief. She shuddered as he snickered at her. “No wonder it was so awful.”

There was a feeling behind this memory. It ached in the way that it made his chest feel too small to hold his heart. “You were so disheveled and grumpy that morning.”

“Goddess, I must have looked awful.”

Link shook his head and drained his own cup. “No,” he stood up and brushed the dirt and grass from his bottom. “You were beautiful.”

They looked over the edge of forever and Zelda slid to the ground. “I don’t think I can.” Zelda meeped, face pale. 

Link snapped his paraglider back into his pack and nodded. “I can try to find a way down but we will lose the day.”

“I’m sorry I just- Link this _wasn’t_ here before. I can’t even see the bottom!”

“I thought this might happen,” Link said with a nod. “Come on, there’s a stable on the other side- we can trade our horses for something more sure-footed for the climb down.”

Zelda shivered. “So I can either plummet to my death into the abyss or take my chances on the rocky shoal as I tumble to the same end.” She covered her face. 

“You like gliding.” Link said helpfully. Well, he hoped it sounded encouraging, at least. 

“What if I can’t hold on long enough to reach the bottom? It’s- it’s so _far_.” 

“I’ve done it plenty of times, I promise you can do it. And I’ll be right beside you the whole time.” He knelt before her. “Unless you want me to hold you the whole way down? We can glide together.”

“Will I be dead weight?” She asked. 

He shook his head and took advantage of her hesitation. “I can go alone, I’ll take photos for you and meet you back at the stable,” he said and her eyes widened in shock and then squinted in challenge.

“You will _not_ leave me here like some incapable princess, _sir_. I have a right to see what’s in this forgotten temple you speak of.”

He could tell he had just moments to talk her into this before she cowered again and changed her mind. He opened the slate and chose his strongest stamina elixir. He threw it back with a shudder and tossed the bottle aside before holding his hand out. 

“Then let’s go before this thing wears off.”

Zelda didn’t even let go before crumpling to the ground, a cloud of dust greeting her as she scooted across the canyon floor. She was shaking and crying, and then rolled over and heaved up her breakfast.

Link, ever the gentleman, held her hair out of her face while she finished emptying her guts as tribute to the earth for still being alive.

“Sorry,” she gasped, then tried to heave again. She curled onto her side and Link laid the side of her face on his thigh. After a few minutes, he handed her the water skin and she threw water over her face, not even pretending to try to drink it. He sighed and looked through his inventory for a vibrant pink elixir. He uncorked it and made her sit up. 

“Hrrghhh,” she mumbled. “Really?”

“Yes, really. Cheers.”

She glugged the chalky, thick concoction with an award winning face and then collapsed back into his lap. It almost wasn't that bad and left a vague minty taste on her tongue.

He rolled his eyes at her as she rubbed her snotty face on his leg. “Thanks."

“My hero,” she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and took a dozen deep breaths. She pushed herself to her feet and began to walk with deliberation toward their destination.


End file.
